Great Moments in Sports: Super Bowl III

I remember growing up in Wilkes-Barre Pennsylvania, with a family of die-hard Eagles fans. We only had one television in the house so deciding on which game to watch was always a big issue. My father loved his Eagles, but I decided that the Eagles were boring and I wanted to watch Joe Willie Namath and the New York Jets. The Eagles were not very competitive or interesting in 1967 or 1968 so I frequent convinced him to turn the channel and watch the New York Jets.

In the summer of 1968, I visited a Pennsylvania State Park known as Boulder Field. I painted a prediction on one of the gigantic boulders and predicted that the New York Jets would win the next Super Bowl. That was one of the few sports predictions I have ever made that actually came true.

I thoroughly enjoyed watching the New York Jets during the 1968-1969 season. Quarterback Joe Namath had established a reputation as a great passer. As a matter of fact, he was the first NFL Quarterback to pass for more than 4,000 yards in a season. The problem was that Namath was also a wild gambler and threw a lot of interceptions. I enjoyed watching Namath mature into a great field general as well as a great passer during the 1968-1969 season. The Jets also had a solid running game and a good defense to go along with the passing game.

When the Jets finally made it to the Super Bowl, many people were predicting that the Baltimore Colts would beat them by 40 points. The final estimate going into the game was that the Colts would win by 18 points. I thought the Jets had a great chance to win as it was obvious to me that the experts did not realize that Namath was a great field general, and the Jets had an excellent running game and defense. As a matter of fact, I actually believed the Jets would win the game! So did Joe Namath and he guaranteed the Jets victory. Of course, my friends and family thought I was crazy to go against all the experts and predict that the Jets would win the game.

I thoroughly enjoyed watching the game, as the Jets rose to the occasion and made the big plays, while the Colts faltered. The Colts probably could have won the game but missed three field goals and had a lot of turnovers. Earl Morall who was unstoppable during the regular year was replaced by the Colts legendarily quarterback Johnny Unitas.

I felt an incredible sense of vindication as the Jets went on to win the game 16 to 7. Apparently, the experts, my family, and my friends were all wrong, and I was right.